Fountain
by Mari Strange
Summary: Whilst she is running the Labyrinth for a second time, Jareth reflects on why Sarah won before, how she is going to win again, and what he is going to do differently. Sarah ponders upon just what it is that she wants most.


**AN: **Random word drabbles. Think I might do 13 of these. Enjoy. (Oh, you know, and review, so I don't get bored with them and stop. No. That wasn't a threat. It's a promise.)

Don't own shiz-nat.

**Fountain**

She was going to make it through the Labyrinth again.

Jareth knew this, yet he couldn't bring himself to alter it, just as he couldn't bring himself to alter it six years ago.

The Labyrinth wasn't a sentient creature. It moved, it shifted, and its pride and glory was that it adjusted to each person.

When Sarah Williams entered the Labyrinth six years ago, she was a child. So the Labyrinth adjusted itself to her innocence. It was supposed to be hard, not impossible.

The Labyrinth wasn't a lesson-teaching tool. It was just supposed to deter people from wishing things away. Don't know what you got till its gone. It was a tool of regret, a physical manifestation of _not_ taking things for granted. (Even things like gravity.)

Like any machine, the Labyrinth required fuel. It could use just about anything, from tears, to love, to despair, to hope, to hopelessness, to dreams, to lust, to determination, want, blood, sweat, tears. It fed off life.

Sarah… she just exuded life. It leaked out of her pores. The Labyrinth was a greedy creature, never actually hungry but always wanting more. The second she started believing, it alerted its master.

Jareth, like the Labyrinth he was lord of, was very interested in the dark haired little girl. After decades with Fae, who with age, kept their emotions in, tamped them down, bottled them up until there very dreams ceased to exist, was intrigued by this little human girl.

He always had an affinity with dreams, and hers were so spectacularly vivid he couldn't help but watch them. After all, at this time he honestly believed he'd never meet Sarah Williams. And what harm could come of watching a mortals dream every moon or so?

There wasn't one, until he began to appear in her dreams. Her version of the Goblin King was different from himself, but not drastically. She based him off her mothers attractive boyfriend, off her favorite rock stars, off the occasional pervert on the street.

For all these differences, what surprised Jareth the most was how she got him _right._ He _was_ lonely, surrounded by doddering idiots. (Not goblins, no, but idiot Fae none the less.) He _could _be cruel, he could be kind. He did believe her special. He even liked to dance.

It was because of his… association with the girl that she was going to beat his Labyrinth not once, but twice.

When she first came, six years ago, Jareth wanted to give her a fighting chance, but he didn't want her to win. He bullied the Labyrinth to remain attuned to her childlike innocence, even as she learned tough, adult lessons in its confines.

Not to say this hadn't happened to anyone else, but somehow, this Sarah, she lost the irresponsibility that made her a child, gained the pressures of adulthood, but maintained her optimistic imagination in the process.

Never had Jareth encountered a being who could go through such a change and stay so… happy. So hopeful. So creative. So determined.

So she won. He didn't try to stop her, didn't raise a finger to her, didn't alert his actual (Fae) troops. He just let her come, let her in, let her jump.

He offered everything he believed himself to be able to give to her, this young mortal who fascinated him, and still she declined.

He didn't stop her, didn't retrieve her. Didn't even keep the damned baby.

And she was going to beat it again.

And he was going to let her again.

She was five hours in, and he hadn't spoken to her yet. Her fiancé wished himself away after finding a copy of the book in her childhood bedroom. He sent one of his advisors to her, giving her the chance to run for her lover, out of generosity.

He looked at her through a crystal. She was just entering the Garden of Temptation, in the hedge gardens just outside the castle. God, what a temptation she was. The Fae exposure had obviously gotten to her from her last run, adding to her already near inhuman attractiveness.

He almost pitied the poor human males who would be forced to be near her after _this_ run.

If everything went his way, though (not that he expected it to) she wouldn't ever have to go back Aboveground.

He was going to ask her again. Offer everything again. Now that he had a better idea of what he was able to offer. He would promise to want her, to take care of her, to appreciate, and respect her. To love her as well as he could, and all she had to do was love him as well.

He looked back into the crystal. There she was, dark hair splayed across her face and over her shoulders. Her face was contorted with extreme emotion, looking, by the way her dark eyebrows furrowed, like want. Like sadness. Like pity.

Sarah was looking into the water of the Fountain of Temptation, showing the viewer what they wanted most. Jareth didn't visit it often, after she beat his labyrinth, not wanting to see her beautiful face doing menial household chores, or homework, or driving, or _anything_ with the stupid git who wished himself away.

He did want to know what she saw in there. Probably the git, he thought gloomily.

But the Goblin King underestimated the effect he had on her. As Sarah looked into the water, all she saw was Jareth, looking into a crystal, with the exact expression she wore spread across his face.

Funny thing about fountains, they're almost like mirrors.

**AN: For those of you who didn't get it, Sarah sees Jareth in the Fountain of Temptation. He's what she wants most. I honestly don't know what she's going to say to him, but I have a sneaky suspicion it's yes. Just a one shot, but do please review. **


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